No more Windows XP support for EEHack?

EEHack is written on top of a C++ library called QT, allowing me to develop new features rapidly, support Linux and Mac OSX, and program things in new and interesting ways. It’s also a great way for people to develop programs that aren’t accustomed to writing GUI software.

This means that if I use the newest QT library, and I do like to keep things updated, EEHack will stop working with Windows XP entirely. The new beta, for example, is built against QT 5.8, and refuses to start on Windows XP.

On one hand, Windows XP is now over 15 years old, and EEHack is a fairly modern program, so part of me doesn’t care, but I personally have an XP netbook I use for tuning, so I do feel the pain of people with old hardware. Hell, you can’t even get a decent web browser for XP anymore.

I have several options I’m considering:

Drop support for Windows XP and stick with current QT versions, also dropping some of the specialized compiler flags necessary to be compatible with XP. This may result in a more stable EEHack? Or maybe not…

Stick with QT 5.6 forever, and any improvements in QT be damned. This is the safest option…

Release builds against BOTH versions of QT. This is more work for me, but it’s possible for me to automate the process:

In one gigantic installer that selects the correct version itself. This would be a fairly large package and irritate both users since fbodytech.com’s upload speed is not awesome

In separate installers and make the user choose. I’m sure to get weekly inquiries about which version to download despite me labelling them clearly.

If we do choose option one, all hope is not lost. Anyone can download QT with QT creator and compile EEHack themselves. This is kind of what my Linux user base is doing since I stopped releasing binaries for Linux, and it works alright.